Disk drives conventionally partition disk surfaces via a series of angularly-spaced embedded servo-wedges disposed on the disk surfaces between data-wedges which contain data tracks with data sectors recorded in the intervals between servo-wedges on each track. The servo-wedges are used in positioning and maintaining a head over a desired track during write and read operations. Typically, servo-wedges are sampled at regular intervals by a read/write channel, and are processed by a servo controller to provide position information to a microprocessor for positioning a head over a desired track.
While the servo-wedges are essential to the operation of the disk drive, their inclusion on the disk surface results in a reduction of the disk surface area available for the data-wedges which in turn translate into a reduction in data capacity of a disk drive. As such, the servo-wedges are considered an overhead in the storage of data on a disk drive. The constant demand for increased data capacity of a disk drive has resulted in an increased number of tracks per inch and/or bits per track on a disk surface. This, however, has also required an increased number of embedded servo-wedges disposed on the disk surface, and thus increased the associated overhead to the disk drive, hindering efforts to maximize the data capacity of a disk drive.
Accordingly, what is needed is a reduction in the overhead associated with the use of embedded servo-wedges on a disk surface of a disk drive.